If there’s one subgenre that has a hold on my soul outside of sci-fi and fantasy, it’s dark academia. Some of my all-time favorite books, like The Secret History and If We Were Villains, are mysteries steeped in the dark side of academia. I’ve been incredibly excited for Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Where Sleeping Girls Lie. With buzzwords like boarding school, a missing student, and coverups, this book is dripping with mystery and secrets.

Amazon / Goodreads

Synopsis:

In Where Sleeping Girls Lie ― a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades ― a girl new to boarding school discovers dark secrets and coverups after her roommate disappears.

It’s like I keep stumbling into a dark room, searching for the switch to make things bright again. To make me remember. But the switch isn’t there. Was it there before?

Sade Hussein is starting her third year of high school, this time at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school. After being home-schooled all her life and feeling like a magnet for misfortune, she’s not sure what will happen. What she doesn’t expect though is for her roommate Elizabeth to disappear after Sade’s first night. Or for people to think she had something to do with it.

With rumors swirling around her, Sade catches the attention of the most popular girls in school – collectively known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’ – and they bring her into their fold. Between learning more about them – especially Persephone, who Sade finds herself drawn to – playing catch-up in class, and trying to figure out what happened to Elizabeth, Sade has a lot on her plate. It doesn’t help that she’s already dealing with grief from the many tragedies in her family.

And then a student is found dead.

The more Sade investigates, the more she realizes there’s more to Alfred Nobel Academy and its students than she realized. Secrets lurk around every corner and beneath every surface…secrets that rival even her own.

Review:

This is such a powerful young adult book. There are more mysteries in Sade’s boarding school than you can count, but Àbíké-Íyímídé manages to collate them nicely into an organized, concise story. There are teenagers solving crimes in this book, but these aren’t the perfect young detectives you might expect. These are flawed, anxious, and imperfect heroes. Sade and her friends are so easy to love, even when they’re unreliable. Where Sleeping Girls Lie tackles the patriarchy, sexual assault, and institutions that protect boys over girls. It’s diverse, has incredible representation, and is full of great friendships. I loved it.

I listened to the audiobook of Where Sleeping Girls Lie. Honestly, it’s one of the best-produced audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. If you only listen to one audiobook this year, make it Where Sleeping Girls Lie. There are journal-like poems at the end of the chapters, which have really awesome special production effects. The narrator was also incredible and provided realistic and believable voices and accents for each of the characters. This audiobook was top-tier and worth the splurge or Audible credit.

If I have any complaints about Where Sleeping Girls Lie, it’s that it did seem ever-so-slightly too long. I feel like it could have been edited down just a little in the middle. Also, and this is a bit silly, but at one point Sade says something like “A Countess? They still have those?” (That’s not a direct quote, just from my memory.) Sade is an extremely smart third-year high-school student who lived in London for at least part of her life. A Countess is an Earl’s wife in England if I’m not mistaken. I feel like she would probably know that the British peerage exists. But I’m probably just being picky with that line!

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed Where Sleeping Girls Lie! It’s an intense novel, so please look up the content warnings and take care while reading.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Thanks to Macmillian Audio for providing me with a review copy!